


The Facts of the Matter

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Near Miss AU [6]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/F, Missing Scene, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24055234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: "We knew each other," says Katherine. "Dave was my best friend."The girls have an important conversation.
Relationships: Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, past David Jacobs/Katherine Plumber
Series: Near Miss AU [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735408
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76





	The Facts of the Matter

**Author's Note:**

> You: Gee, Finn, you just finished Near Miss. What now?  
> Me: Hmm. How about more of Near Miss.
> 
> This is Kath and Sarah's chat after NM chapter 12, by popular demand :) If there's anything else specific you'd like to see in this au give me a shout on tumblr, where I'm agentsnickers!

Sarah and Katherine make it all the way into their apartment before Sarah cracks.

“What the _hell_ was that?”

Katherine chews on her lower lip for a minute. “Sarah, you should sit down.”

“Why?” Sarah asks. She does, though, pulling her knees to her chest on one end of the couch and waiting for Katherine to sit across from her like they always do. Katherine doesn’t sit, instead pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table.

“You have to promise that you won’t hate me forever,” says Katherine, sounding slightly desperate.

“Kath, you’re scaring me,” says Sarah.

“Please, Sarah, promise you won’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you, love.”

Katherine stops, taking a deep breath. “You know how you always say it’s so funny that Dave and I were at the same school for college and never met? How, like, we were so close together so many times but didn’t meet until you met me through Jack way later?”

“Yeah,” Sarah says, frowning.

“We knew each other,” says Katherine. “Dave was my _best friend_.”

“No, no way,” says Sarah. “I would’ve known, he’d have told me about you.”

Katherine shakes her head, biting down hard on her lip. “You know how he was back then. He never told your family anything about his social life.”

“We just assumed he didn’t really have one,” Sarah replies. She looks up at Katherine, wide eyed. “Why lie, Kath? When I introduced you, why did you lie?”

“We hadn’t spoken in almost two years,” says Katherine. “I didn’t expect – seeing him was like a punch to the gut, that first time. I know he feels the same.” She takes a breath, trying to steady herself. “After you introduced us, we got together and ironed out our story.”

“But _why_?” Sarah repeats.

Katherine drops onto the couch across from her. “Because I broke his heart, Sarah.”

“You – David’s never –“

“Sure he has,” Katherine says sadly. “You told me yourself that you helped him pick up the pieces.”

“Katherine, what do you mean?”

“I’m Leah’s mother, Sarah,” Katherine says. There are tears in her eyes. “I’m not proud of what happened back then; we were planning to put her up for adoption, so neither of us told our families about her. Only then she was born and – and for a little while she changed everything. But we didn’t know how to tell anyone, at that point, and we were trying to figure it out when my family came to visit.”

“What happened?” Sarah asks in a shaky whisper.

“My _father_ threatened to disown me and ruin any chance I had of getting a job in my field,” says Katherine. “He said I either had to leave David and Leah or kiss my future goodbye.” She shakes her head. “It felt like the end of the fucking world. But I – you know, I didn’t _want_ kids, really. Leah happened and I loved her, I love her, but it wasn’t the plan. And the part of me that was just a scared kid trying to make a mark on the world won out. I broke up with Dave and I gave up custody of Leah and I stopped letting people call me Kate because it reminded me too much of him.” She looks down at her hands. “He’s always called me that; anytime anybody else did it felt like I was going to choke on the guilt.”

Sarah stares at her.

“You hate me, don’t you?”

“I don’t hate you.” Sarah reaches for Katherine across the couch. “I don’t – I don’t _understand_ , but I don’t hate you.”

That earns a watery smile from Katherine. “That’s a relief.”

“So I walked you back into his life, after all of that, and neither of you _said_ anything?” says Sarah.

“I really liked you, Sar,” Katherine says. “I love you. And when I found out that David never told anyone – when I found out that he wasn’t planning to – it felt like a miracle.”

“I love you, too, Kath,” says Sarah. She stands up. “I think I’m gonna need a little time to process this, but I love you more than anything.”

Katherine nods. “I understand.”

They’re walking on eggshells for a few days. Katherine doesn’t know for sure which part of this is worse – that _she’s_ the one that shattered David all those years ago, the truth bomb about Leah, or the lie. She feels like she’ll be trying to make up for it for the rest of their lives.

By Friday, though, they’ve settled somewhat. Things feel more or less back to normal.

Katherine finally breathes again.

She gets a text, fairly early in the afternoon.

_From: Day_

_I told Jack._

It takes a few hours for her to get around to responding, mostly because it takes a few hours for her to know what she wants to say.

She’s curled on the couch under Sarah’s arm, watching TV, when she finally feels ready.

_Me: I thought you might. You two okay?_

_Day: Better than I thought we’d be. You and Ra?_

_Me: Better than I thought we’d be._

_Day: That’s something._

_Me: That’s everything, I think._

_Day: Yeah._

_Day: Signing off for now, okay? Love you._

_Me: Love you, too. Tell Jack the same._

_Day: And Sarah._

And that’s that. She and David will need to sort out their own new normal eventually, Katherine supposes. What their relationship looks like in a world where someone in their current lives actually knows what they’ve been to each other.

But that’s a worry for another day, for a future Katherine.

For now she settles a little more comfortably against Sarah and thanks her lucky stars that she still has her.


End file.
